Turkish security forces detained 10 suspects on Friday for allegedly providing financial support to a former military officer accused of taking part in a FETÖ assassination team that targeted President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan during the failed July 15, 2016 coup attempt.
The suspects were identified as part of an investigation by the Terror Crimes Bureau of the Muğla Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office into people allegedly linked to former army Capt. Burkay Karatepe, according to judicial sources.
Authorities said the suspects provided financial assistance to Karatepe while he was a fugitive.
Five suspects were identified in Istanbul and five others in the northwestern province of Eskişehir. All 10 were detained in simultaneous operations in the two provinces.
Security forces also seized a large amount of digital material during searches of the suspects’ residences.
The detainees are expected to be transferred to Muğla for further questioning and legal proceedings.
Karatepe, who had been wanted for nearly a decade, was captured in the western province of Afyonkarahisar on Aug. 1 and formally arrested in Muğla on Aug. 5.
Turkish authorities accuse Karatepe of being part of a military team assigned to assassinate Erdoğan during the July 15 coup attempt.
The group targeted a hotel in the southwestern resort town of Marmaris where Erdoğan had been staying before he departed shortly ahead of the attack.
Türkiye accuses the FETÖ terrorist group and its U.S.-based leadership of orchestrating the 2016 coup attempt, which killed more than 250 people and wounded thousands.
In a separate operation Friday, police in the northwestern province of Bursa captured a fugitive convicted of membership in FETÖ, local authorities said.
The individual, identified by the initials D.Ö., had been sentenced to six years and three months in prison for membership in an armed terrorist organization.
Police detained the fugitive in Bursa’s Orhangazi district as part of operations targeting wanted individuals, according to the provincial police department.
Following police procedures, the convict was transferred to Women’s Closed Prison to serve the sentence.
